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LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-26A-03
- Started: 2nd
- Finished: 1st
- Fastest lap: 1m34.302s (1st)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 16, 31 and 50 (Op-Op-Op-Pri)
- 2011 points: 134 (3rd) “Every win is special - but with all the emotion, effort and energy the team put into today’s victory, this one feels even more special than usual.
“Coming into this weekend, I said I’d take things one race at a time. So to win today is massively positive for us, but there’s a long way to go and it’ll be about consistency as well as speed from here on in.
“Driving lap after lap within tenths of each other was about trying to do everything as perfectly as possible – yet, being aggressive yet controlled, I felt the moves I made today were some of the most precise I’ve ever pulled off.
“Being able to drive with your head as well as your heart, and getting it just right, is massively satisfying.
“The fight for the world championship will be very, very, very hard now. We’re back in the fight though, and I really hope we can carry this forward and keep the momentum going.”
JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-26A-04
- Started: 7th
- Finished: Ret – 35 laps, hydraulic issue
- Fastest lap: 1m36.258s (+1.956 s, 9th)
- Pitstops: One: lap 24 (Op-Op)
- 2011 points: 109 (5th)
“First, I’d like to congratulate Lewis on a fantastic victory this afternoon. He’s done a great job all weekend and this result gives everyone in the team a massive boost ahead of next weekend’s race in Hungary.
“As for my race, I had a terrible opening lap. I got too much wheelspin away from the line and had to fight my way back from 10th place. I got stuck behind Vitaly [Petrov], who was very difficult to pass because he moved a lot in the braking areas. But once I’d passed him, I enjoyed fighting back through the field.
“I’d just overtaken Nico [Rosberg] for sixth when my power steering started to get heavy. Soon after, we retired the car on safety grounds because we had a hydraulic issue. It was a very disappointing end, but these things sometimes happen in motor racing and you just have to put it behind you and move on.
“Already I’ve turned my attention to next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, where I hope to have better luck. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes goes there on the back of a win and it’s my intention to be back on the podium for my 200th grand prix.”
MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
“What can I say? Lewis was perfect in qualifying, and perfect in the race, and the result was perfect too.
“He made a brilliant start from the front row, storming past Mark [Webber] into the lead, and then nailed the first few laps.
“After that, the team made all the right strategy calls, and the pitcrew executed the pitstops faultlessly, under extreme pressure.
“It was a gripping race, real edge-of-the-seat stuff, with all three teams involved operating at the top of their form. When that happens, the victory is particularly hard-won – and mighty satisfying too. Believe me, this success will be celebrated loud and long in Nurburgring and Woking tonight – and in Brixworth and Stuttgart too, homes of Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines, whose home Grand Prix this is. As always, their engine was superb today.
“Jenson had a difficult weekend, however, and his race ended prematurely today as a result of a hydraulic failure. He’ll be disappointed, inevitably, but he’s a magnificent team player, and a fabulous driver, and I’m sure he’ll bounce back in Budapest next weekend.
“As for Lewis, well, I reckon his 16th Grand Prix victory was one of his very best: a scintillatingly authoritative performance that all too clearly underlines what a fearsomely competitive individual he is.”
* Official photos and report courtesy of VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES *
Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
MERCEDES GP PETRONAS drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished their home race in seventh and eighth positions today as a chilly Nürburgring circuit hosted the German Grand Prix.
• Nico completed three stops today, on laps 14, 36, 53, running option/option/option/prim
• Michael completed three stops, on laps 15, 37, 56, running option/option/option/prime
• Michael’s spin on lap 23 cost him over 15 seconds before he began his recovery drive to eight place
• MERCEDES GP PETRONAS scored a total of ten points, equally the points haul from the last race at Silverstone
Nico Rosberg
“I had a good start to the race today and made up one position on the first lap to be running in fifth place. However I didn’t have a perfect set-up today and the car wasn’t working quite as well as in qualifying. I had some good battles with Massa but despite pushing hard, it was impossible to keep him behind me. Seventh place is ok but we know that we have some work to do to maximise our latest upgrades in the race. I have a great team behind me, both the engineers and the boys in the garage, so I am confident that we will do this and we will see what happens next week in Hungary.”
Michael Schumacher
“It was a pretty exciting race today with lots of action for both the spectators and the drivers. Hopefully everyone in the grandstands was entertained and it made up for the cold temperatures a little. My spin caught me by complete surprise, but that spot is known to be tricky in wet conditions, even if the conditions were not so wet today. Anyway, it obviously cost me some positions which was a shame. Towards the end, rain could have helped but the chances were low so I did not count on it. All in all, I am ok with the race. With the little improvements we have made, we can look forward to Hungary now.”
Ross Brawn
“Things looked pretty good for us in the early stages of the race, with Nico running strongly in the top six, and he seemed set for a top six finish. However, the pace was not there in the third stint, which cost him a position. As for Michael, we believe that he braked on a damp patch on the way into turn 10, which caused him to spin. After that, he drove a strong recovery to finish less than ten seconds behind Nico. We saw some good racing all through the field today, with our drivers involved in plenty of it, and scored a few more important points for our Championship position.”
Norbert Haug
“At least we scored points today with seventh and eighth positions for Nico and Michael. Our race speed was somewhat compromised as both Nico and Michael needed to save fuel for quite a long period of time. At the beginning of the race, our speed looked better relative to the pace of the top three teams than it did from one-third distance onwards.”
* Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES GP PETRONAS *
Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
Saturday's qualifying session programmed at Nürburgring got off under mixed weather conditions. The new aerodynamical updates, introduced by MERCEDES GP PETRONAS and destined to improve the car's overall behaviour, functioned more than satisfaying for both drivers, thus enabling them to set faster, closer to ideal, times. If in the morning during FP3, his car was working fine, in the afternoon, however, Michael struggled with pace and was forced to substantially fight with the Silver Arrow in order to counteract the single-seater's tendency to slip away from the optimal track. Low grip made it even more difficult than it already was, as the continuous correction manouevres from the steering wheel cost him valuable milliseconds and thus the former F1 champion was sent to P10. On the other hand, Nico felt more comfortable with his car and performed better than expected in all of the three qualifying rounds. In the end, he managed to overpass him mate in the standings by finishing 6th, the utmost performance that could have been achieved with this technical package and set-up during the day, according to Ross Brawn, team principal.
Check out more photos captured yesterday on the famous German circuit after you press the jump button!
* Official photos courtesy of MERCEDES GP PETRONAS *
Copyright © 2011, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
